Saran Clan
The Sarans were a clan of Devils who were sired by the Demon Lord Sara. Their kingdom was found in the Burning Circle of Hell known as Inferno, which Sara became master of when he replaced Amon. The race was known for their battle lust and mastery of Hellfire, a uniquely powerful form of Hellfire. The patriarch of the Clan, Sara was the eldest of three brothers who were born to a she-demon of Inferno who had mated with Satan. At that time, Amon was the King of the Burning Circle and master of Hellfire. In an earlier battle, he had been mortally wounded by Abaddon who had attacked him from behind. His daughter Naome would later say that had Abaddon not attacked as a coward he never would have stood a chance against Amon. Recognizing that the brothers shared the same parentage as him, Amon decided to raise one of the boys as a successor to rule the Burning Circle and avenge him on Abaddon. He forced the essence of Hellfire into and his brothers, and only Sara was strong enough to survive the ordeal. Not long afterwards, Amon succumbed to his wounds and died. Afterwards, Sara took Naome as his mate and became King of Inferno. Sara would go on many quests throughout Hell, on one he met and was seduced by Sin. Sin gave him a son, Sora, who he brought with him back to Inferno and ordered his wife to help raise. With Naome, Sara would sire the rest of the Saran Clan, which came to number in the dozens. These included Kai who was known for his bravery and wisdom, Hiko the vigilant, and Tara, the warrior princess who would become the mate of her older half brother Sora. Later, Sara would find an abandoned Oni child who impressed him with his courage. Sara would adopt this Oni runt and name him Shita. Shita would be raised alongside Sora and Sara’s other son’s by Naome, but would grow to resent his adopted tribe and become mischievous. The Saran Clan was among the most powerful forces in Hell, defying the might of the other Demon Lords. One day a portal opened to the Midplane and the sarans went through it, coming through on a planet called Kazan where they bred with the races there and fathered the saran race. Upon returning when the portal closed, the reasserted their control over Inferno until one day they all mysteriously disappeared. Few suspected that Sara, long involved in the pursuit of ultimate knowledge, achieved enlightenment. He ascended to the Highplane and brought his entire Clan with him. 'The Sarans' Sara: '''Originally Demon Lord of Inferno, Sara had an enthusiasm for fighting extraordinary even for a demon. Despite his incredible power, which among demons was matched only by Abaddon, Sara was notable for his interest in magic. This was unusual as most demons considered sorcery to be beneath them, preferring to rely on their own power. However, Sara was a master at alchemy and was able to transmute his great spear from nothing. He also had given up his left eye to another Old One called Mimir in order to gain the ability to see the future. Sara also mastered the Flames of the Burning Sphere, a skill he passed on to his children and later to sarans who evolved on Kazan. The first sarans were his direct children, all of whom had the power of an Old One though not to the same level as him. The only one who possessed power on the level of Sara was his son, Sora. Sara is notable for two reasons. First was his leading of his tribe through a bleed onto ancient Kazan and siring of the mortal sarans, and because he was able to achieve enlightenment and ascend to heaven, bringing his entire tribe with him. In appearance, Sara looked similar to most other demons with his red skin and a glowing yellow right eye (his left having been sacrificed as an offering to Mimir). His face had a heavy moustache and he had wild black hair that extended down his back. He was massive in stature, with a powerful build. Over his broad shoulders he wore a tattered black cape. His only other clothing was a pair of black pants and boots. '''Naome: Daughter of Amon, the former King of Inferno and mate to his successor Sara, Naome was a skilled seductress and very effective in terms of communication and diplomacy. She often acted as Sara's personal advisor and was highly regarded for her ability to settle disputes and her shrewdness when dealing with the other Demon Lords. Quite surprisingly, she had a very light, pleasant humor which often offset her mate’s roaring laughter. While she had no real enemy in the Underplane, she disliked Sin who had once seduced Sara and felt pity for the fallen goddess, Lilith. In appearance Naome was tall and fit with large breasts, and often wore a lose fitting black dress with gold jewelry. She had a very elegant demeanor, but when pushed could demonstrate formidable fighting talents inherited from her father, who had been one of the strongest Old Ones. Her face typically had a very soft expression, but it was said lightning flashed in her eyes. Like other high level demons she has red skin with glowing yellow eyes and black hair, though she lacks other features such as horns and a tail and her hair was fine instead of spiky. When Amon took Sara and his brothers as his students, she fell in love with him and was relieved that he survived her father’s brutal training. She was a loyal companion to Sara and always stood by him, though oftentimes she couldn’t understand his eccentricities and feared his violent temper. Sora: Son of Sara and the greatest warrior among the saran tribe. Unbeknownst to him for the majority of his life, his mother was actually the Demon Lord Sin rather than Sara's mate Naome. That Sin was his mother greatly distressed Sora, since he considered her an enemy and rejected her when she tried to become close with him. Suspecting her motives, he threatened to kill her if she ever came near him again. Sora possessed power on the level of his father, which was enhanced by a magical hammer given to him by another Old One called Abra. Like his father Sora constantly lusted for battle, though he lacked his father’s keen interest in sorcery. The sarans at the time often warred with the Oni, a race of demon giants. Sora was the bane of that race, and there was no Oni that did not quake in fear at the mere mention of the Son of Sara. When the demonic sarans found their way to Kazan, Sora sired a line that would one day spawn the Oversaran who would defeat Crash. After the bleed faded and the True Sarans vanished back into Hell, Sora eventually ascended to Heaven along with his father and the rest of their tribe. Sora was a large man, though not as large as his father, and was heavily muscled. Like other high level demons he was red skinned with glowing yellow eyes. He had spiky black hair which extended down his back, except for two large strands which framed his face, which was round and clean shaven. When Cain is brought to the ruins of the Saran Palace in Inferno he sees a statue of Sora, Virgil remarks that the two are spitting images of eachother except for Cain's height. Like his father he wore black pants, and also metal armor on his legs, an iron belt, and iron gauntlets. He also carried a powerful weapon known as the Black Hammer that enabled him to use the formidable power of Darkness. The hammer was bound to him, and would be unusable by anyone else and return to him when called. When looking for an advantage against Satan, Cain asked if Sora's hammer was still there, but Virgil told him that when Sora ascended, he took the hammer with him. Shita: The adopted son of Sara and foster brother of Sora, Shita was the child of Moloch of the Oni Clan, who he had discarded because of his small size. Shita was born small for an Oni (Oni typically stand over 30 feet tall, Shita was the size of a normal humanoid) and terribly weak. The group tasked with disposing of him ran into the Burning King Sara, who slew them when they attacked him. Finding the child who wasn't crying despite observing those with him being killed, Sara took him under his wing and returned to his kingdom. Despite attempts to acclimate him into saran culture, Shita was always aware of his physical shortcomings and turned to sorcery and trickery, becoming very powerful. His jealousy toward Sara's perceived favoritism towards Sora, Shita worked to undermine the other sarans going back and forth from being an annoyance to an all out threat, though he typically stopped short of outright betraying his adopted Clan. It was during one of his exiles that the sarans found the bleed on ancient Kazan, and he was not there with them to sire what would become the Midplane sarans. On an occasion when Sara entered a state of deep meditation to focus his power, and Sora was away fighting Moloch, the sarans were attacked by Abaddon. Shita returned to defend his stepfather until he came out of the trance. For overcoming his feelings of jealousy and inadequacy, Sara allowed Shita to ascend with the other sarans. Shita was an Oni by birth and did not look like any of his clansmen. He was a runt for Oni, being puny in size and very skinny. Long horns grew from his forehead and curved back over top of his head. His hair was wild. Like other demons of his class, he had red skin and yellow eyes. He usually wore a long black coat with black pants and boots. Kai: Kai was the first son given to Sara by Naomi and one of the greatest warriors of the Saran Clan. In his youth he looked up to his older brothers Sora and Shita, and would constantly pester them to take him adventuring with them. When he came of age he quickly grew into a mighty warrior. He regularly expressed relief that he wouldn't have to succeed their father, but Sora would often threaten him that he'd abdicate if someone forced him to take the Burning Throne and leave it to Kai. When looking at the statue of him in the Burning Palace, Cain remarks that John in his Oversaran form is the spitting image of Kai. Kai wore a black cape similar to his father, with black pants. He also wore white bandages wrapped around his forearms, shins, and hips. Tara: Tara is a younger daughter of Sara and Naome. She grew up surrounded by powerful warriors like her father and older brothers, but the one she idolized most was Sora. Sora was often away on campaigns into other parts of Hell, especially against the Oni Clan and the Demon Lord Moloch. However, whenever he returned Sora, who was often hopeless when it came to keeping track of Sara’s other children, regularly forgot who she was. In order to gain his attention, she diligently trained as a warrior, mastering multiple fighting styles and weapons. By the time Sora returned from his next mission she had grown into a real beauty. Her features greatly resembled her mother, though her frame was comparatively petite. She was a vivacious girl and something of a tom boy. By now she’d attracted Sora’s attention, but now the positions were switched with Sora clumsily trying to win her favor. She typically wrote off her attraction to the warrior as a childhood crush and accepted proposals from other suitors. Now of age to fight, she often went with Sora on campaigns and over time she and Sora became close friends. To the other sarans though, the attraction between the two was obvious and they ended up becoming a couple. The two enjoyed a deep love for eachother, and jealously guarded one another from the affections of others. One of the reasons for the grudge between Sora and Shita is that Shita assumed Sora's shape in order to seduce her, then bragged to the other sarans about it. Sano: The tall and lanky Sano was a master swordsman, who used a gigantic blade even taller than himself. Even when disarmed though, he was still a dangerous fighter. Hiko: The giant of the saran Clan, Hiko loomed above even Sara himself. Denna: The Saran Clan's silent assassin, the stoic Denna specialized in discreet killing and was greatly feared across the Underplane. She had an on/off relationship with Hiko, who found her indecisiveness toward him to be truly maddening. 'Twilight of the Sarans' The Saran Clan's darkest hour came upon the convergence of a series of unfortunate events. Sora, the champion of the Clan, had fallen into a trap of Moloch's design which trapped him in a pocket dimension. Sara fell into a deep meditative state, from which he could not be roused. With their two strongest fighters taken out, the Sarans' enemies gathered. Moloch gathered his Oni, while Abaddon carved a path of destruction through Inferno. Sara’s next oldest son, Kai, stepped up and lead the defense of Inferno, teleporting around the battlefield in an attempt to deal with the strongest enemies as they appeared. However, fighting a battle against so many strong enemies wore him down, and when Abaddon appeared on the field Kai barely escaped with his life. When all hope seemed lost, an unlikely savior came in the exiled Shita. Shita placed himself on the bridge between Abaddon and the Palace of Flame, refusing to let him pass. Abaddon discovered to his peril that though Shita was not the physical powerhouse his brother was, his skill at magic was enough to hold him at bay. However, Shita's magic could only delay Abaddon for so long before the beast fought his way through the spells. He beat Shita to within an inch of his life, but before he could deliver the death blow, Sora arrived on the battlefield. With the power of his hammer, Sora knocked Abaddon back. He thanked Shita for all he had done, and then turned his rage on Abaddon for daring to lay a hand on his brother. Sora’s appearance on the battlefield terrified the Oni, and they broke ranks and fled. Abaddon prevented any further dissent by threatening to kill whoever ran, and he turned to face Sora. The ensuing battle was titanic, seeming to shake Inferno apart. However, despite his own awesome power, even Sora was unable to defeat Abaddon. As the elder devil began seizing the upper hand, it was then that Sara emerged from his trance. All stopped fighting to behold him, as his presence had become something transcendent. Even his own Clan were rendered immobile by him. With a gesture he knocked away his Clan’s enemies and with a smile he drew his family to him. In a blinding flash of light, Sara and his entire Clan vanished. No trace of their Aura could be felt and no sign of them was left behind.